The Food Matters Project #12: Mostly Whole Wheat Bread

How many of us have a number of cookbooks on their shelves any never tried any of the recipes (or very few of them)? If you are this person, you should do something similar to The Food Matters Project (with this cookbook or any other). Each week one of the participants chooses a recipe, and we all try it. It’s a great idea to cook your way through a cookbook- with only 1 recipe a week!

Whenever I go through a magazine or cookbook, I tend to notice only some recipes. Since we have began The Food Matters Project, it has been great trying out new dishes which we probably would never have gotten to.

This recipe was going to be a baguette, but when I was shaping the dough I think it wanted to be a bread loaf instead. If you’d like additional flavor or texture, top it off with some poppy or sesame seeds.

In a stand mixer combine the: whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Start the mixer, using a dough hook. Then, about a 1/4 cup at a time, add the water into the mixture. Continue to mix the dough until it forms into a ball. You might need to add some more water- if so, add it 1 tbsp at a time.

Pour olive oil into a large bowl, swish it around so it is covered where the dough will touch (this will prevent it from sticking). Put the dough into the bowl, and cover it with a towel or plastic wrap. Allow it to rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature, it should double in size.

Lightly flour the surface you’ll be working on. Knead the dough a few times (about 3 minutes). Roll the dough out into 2 baguettes or 1 loaf of bread.

Heat the oven to 500ºF. If you’ll be baking the bread on a sheet pan, spray it with non-stick spray, then set the loaf on the pan. Put the bread into the oven for 10 minutes. Then turn down the heat (while the bread is in the oven) to 400ºF. Bake it at 400ºF for 30 minutes or until the inside of the bread is 210ºF).

*If you are topping the bread with seeds, brush the loaf with a little water and then sprinkle on the poppy or sesame seeds (about 1/4 cup) prior to baking.

It has been one of my goals to make recipes out of my cookbooks so they don’t just sit and gather dust. I love this project because it has really allowed me to make use of one of my cookbooks. Your bread looks good!

Thanks! Yes, I’m loving this project! It’s helped me utilize this book. Since it doesn’t have any pictures I had not peaked into it as much as I should have. Especially since there are so many goodies in it!